30BR & Unlimited Guns

J

Jeff Welker

Guest
While the 30BR frenzy was still moving at light speed, I wanted to inquire regarding its use in unlimited competitions. Since recoil seems to be a concern for some with LV rifles, I was wondering why I've not heard much about the 30BR being used in unlimited group shooting. If the 30BR is easier to maintain tune, less barrel wear, less cleaning, etc; why isn't there the same interest in chambering rail guns for 30BR as there seems to be for HV rifles? Am I missing something?
 
Jeff, I have a 1.450 30BR Unlimited Barrel form Rail, I shot it some last year in the Region. If I recall, my best 100 yard 10-shot 5- group agg was in the mid .260 range.

There is a problem with recoil. I have to catch the top with my thumb every time or it will hit the stop hard enough to shift the base on the bench. And, my top is pretty darned heavy.

In between now and the Nationals, I plan on re-installing it . I have learned quite a bit about tuning a 30BR since then, I think I was shooting it too light.

I have a pretty good 6PPC barrel for my Rail now, so I will probably shoot it the Unlimited at the Nationals, but you never know...........jackie
 
Jeff Welker said:
why isn't there the same interest in chambering rail guns for 30BR as there seems to be for HV rifles? Am I missing something?
Click to expand...
There is no Score competition with rail guns, and well over 95 percent of the 30BR's around were at least originally Chambered for use in Score matches.
 
Jeff,

Both Wilbur Harris (our host) and I had unlimited rails in .30BR back in the late 1990s. Wilbur's was a tease, one or two shots out of 10 always going out. He only tried one barrel. He did try both BIB and Fowler bullets; same luck with both, & if I had to guess, I'd say it was the barrel or the chambering job. Maybe Wilbur will chime in.

I shot mine a couple of matches one season, but this was back in the time I was getting very serious about long-range benchrest, and wound up skipping most group matches the next several years. I was shooting a stiff load of IMR 4227. At the 300 yard SE regional at Charlotte (10 shots in those days), I was leading through match 3. Match 4 required real work to open the bolt, and Match 5 involved a hammer. Trash one set of cases. I put a PPC barrel on it, but always intended to go back to the .30 & try the then-new idea of VV N-130.

My top is relatively light. As with Jackie, I had to catch it with my thumb.

I wonder if there is something about the 30 caliber that makes your odds of getting a good barrel, or superior bullets, a bit higher. That would be the only reason to build a .30 BR for unlimited. In HV -- or LV, for that matter, the rifle can always do double-duty for score matches. There is no unlimited in class in score (yet).

The .30s may in fact have some advantage in that bell-shaped curve of superior barrels and bullets we all chase. There aren't many of us, but as a percentage, we seem to fare quite well, statistically speaking. Still too early to know.
 
jackie schmidt said:
Jeff, I have a 1.450 30BR Unlimited Barrel form Rail, I shot it some last year in the Region. If I recall, my best 100 yard 10-shot 5- group agg was in the mid .260 range.

There is a problem with recoil. I have to catch the top with my thumb every time or it will hit the stop hard enough to shift the base on the bench. And, my top is pretty darned heavy.

In between now and the Nationals, I plan on re-installing it . I have learned quite a bit about tuning a 30BR since then, I think I was shooting it too light.

I have a pretty good 6PPC barrel for my Rail now, so I will probably shoot it the Unlimited at the Nationals, but you never know...........jackie
Click to expand...

If the recoil issue can be solved, it may be that a 30BR rail has the potential to be very competitive. With all the smart minds in this sport, I can't believe the recoil issue on a rail could not be resolved. I look forward to your future comments on this matter.

Thanks.
 
Dick Grosbier said:
There is no Score competition with rail guns, and well over 95 percent of the 30BR's around were at least originally Chambered for use in Score matches.
Click to expand...

I understand the Score aspect; however, with all the interest generated by Jackie's tremendous agg, I thought that trying the 30BR on a rail would be a natural next step. For all the folks that already have rails, it is simply a matter of getting a barrel chambered and clamping it into the barrel block.
 
You can put bungee cords on it to control the recoil. But as with everything, there's a trade off in that the more recoil it has the more force the bungee cords are going to return the top to battery and the more chance there is of the base shifting on the bench top.
 
Give it some time. With the now revitalized interest in 30BR group guns, it is inevitable but I wouldn't expect a full report in the first couple of weeks.
 
Matthew, what you wrote probably doesn't read quite like you wanted it. My little stunt out in Midland did not revitilize anything. We have had a lot more 30BR's built in our area this past year than anything. What it did was solidify many shooters confidence that the 30 can be a viable, and very competitive, option in Group Shooting.

Granted, the 10.5 pound class does present a little bit of a obsticle, but we just have to "butch up":D
 
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